Bank Vole

Bank Vole
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Cricetidae
Subfamily:	Arvicolinae
Genus:	Myodes
Species:	M. glareolus
Binomial name
Myodes glareolus (Schreber, 1780)
Synonyms
Clethrionomys glareolus Evotomys glarolus

The bank vole (Myodes glareolus; formerly Clethrionomys glareolus) is a small vole with red-brown fur and some grey patches, with a tail about half as long as its body. A rodent, it lives in woodland areas and is around 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in length. The bank vole is found in western Europe and northern Asia. It is native to Great Britain but not to Ireland, where it has been accidentally introduced, and has now colonised much of the south and southwest; concerns have recently been expressed that it may be replacing the native wood mouse.

The bank vole lives in woodland, hedgerows and other dense vegetation such as bracken and bramble. Its underground chamber is lined with moss, feathers and vegetable fibre and contains a store of food. It can live for 18 months and is omnivorous, eating insects, leaves and fruits such as raspberries and hazel nuts. It readily climbs into scrub and low branches of trees.

In areas such as Great Britain, where the only other small vole is the short-tailed vole (Microtus agrestis), the bank vole is distinguished by its more prominent ears, chestnut-brown fur and longer tail.

Young bank voles in their nest beneath a wood pile

References

• Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 in Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder, eds., Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
• Ferris-Khan, R. (Ed.). 1995. The Ecology of Woodland Creation. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Clethrionomys glareolus

• ARKive Photos,Video.